By Jessica Toonkel | Photography by Alex Kent for WSJ

Sarah Longwell recently screened a tape of a focus group of Catholic participants discussing President Trump's criticism of Pope Leo XIV, rewatching key interactions like a sports coach reviewing tapes.

On any given week, Longwell's political strategy and communications firm Longwell Partners facilitates multiple focus-group discussions. Sometimes, Longwell will observe a live feed and suggest questions to the moderator in real-time.

The strategist, who is also the founder of digital-news upstart the Bulwark, is collecting clues: A raised eyebrow or a look of deep boredom are as revealing as a participant's stated opinions, in her experience. These little tells provide insight into how the politics of the country might be shifting, an obsession that has become core to Longwell's success.

"The second you know what's going on with voters, the complexities of politics fall away," Longwell said.

Unwinding the complexity of American politics to its emotional core is also the appeal of the Bulwark. Longwell initially started the publication in 2018 for Never Trumpers like herself. It has since morphed into a popular, straight-shooting opinion news site for anyone who feels "politically homeless," in Longwell's words.

Its commentators' hot takes on everything from the war with Iran to Trump at the New York Knicks game have a raw candor that differentiates the site from mainstream news -- tapping into subscribers emotions, somewhat similar in concept to how the manosphere attracts young men, said Tim Miller, one of the Bulwark's star podcast hosts and writers.

And the Bulwark is profitable. Last year, the company's revenue was more than $20 million, and it is on track to increase around 50% this year, according to a person familiar with the situation. More than one million people have signed up to receive the Bulwark's newsletters; it has more than 140,000 paid subscribers across Substack and YouTube. In addition to offering 10 newsletters and 10 podcasts -- including "The Focus Group, " where Longwell shares recordings from voter conversations -- the publication puts on live shows around the country in cities, sometimes adding second nights after selling out in a matter of hours.

Now, Longwell is planning next steps. A number of investors, including Melinda French Gates and Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective, have expressed interest in investing in the Bulwark, according to people familiar with the matter. Longwell has also turned down an offer to sell her company to James and Kathryn Murdoch, who are already investors in the Bulwark through their Lupa Systems company, other people said.

Kathryn Murdoch, who is on the board of the Bulwark, has been surprised by the startup's resilience, especially the fact that it continued to grow while Joe Biden was president. "I knew it was necessary and good as a counterpoint but I wasn't sure to be honest if it was going to have the same relevance once [Trump] was out of office," she said. "They have proven they have staying power."

The Bulwark is part of a crop of digital-media properties that are attracting investors at premium valuations. Journalist Bari Weiss sold the Free Press to Paramount last year for $150 million, four years after founding it. Semafor, the startup founded by journalist Ben Smith and former Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith, earlier this year announced it had raised $30 million, valuing the company at $330 million.

Owners of more established digital-media companies, meanwhile, are increasingly seeking exits as they struggle to navigate the declining advertising landscape. Vox announced it is selling a number of its assets, including its podcasts and New York magazine, to Lupa Systems. The entrepreneur Byron Allen bought BuzzFeed, once a buzzy, highflying digital-media startup that was more recently on the verge of bankruptcy.

Part of the secret to Longwell's strategy has been her decision to let her political consulting background and media commentary bleed together. While she no longer spends much time working with clients of Longwell Partners, leaving that to her 25 employees at the firm, the focus groups provide fodder for the Bulwark's podcasts and articles.

"Sarah is reaching out directly to voters and offers this unique perspective that you don't usually hear," said Ryan Brenizer, a 47-year-old photographer in Montvale, N.J., who subscribes to the Bulwark. Over the years he has canceled his subscription to other publications, like Vox and the New York Times, but he remains loyal to the Bulwark.

Longwell never intended to run a media company, let alone one that is often highly critical of the Republican party.

She initially made her name working for the Republican lobbyist Rick Berman, known in some D.C. circles as "Dr. Evil," because he took up such causes as fighting Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

And she saw herself as a conservative from an early age. As a teenager growing up in Millerstown, Pa., Longwell was an avid reader of economist and conservative social theorist Thomas Sowell. After graduating from Kenyon College in Ohio, she took a job at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which promotes conservative thinking on college campuses.

While working at ISI, Longwell was helping with publicity for former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's book "It Takes a Family," at a time when he made a comment comparing homosexuality to bestiality. (Years later he said he regretted saying that).

She was just coming out as a lesbian to her family, and recalls seeing a little girl with her two moms at a protest carrying a sign that read "My moms take me bowling." It was the moment she knew she needed to come out publicly as a gay woman and fight for gay rights within her party. In 2011, she joined the Log Cabin Republicans, a Republican group representing LGBTQ conservatives, later becoming chair.

She became a personal and professional mentor to Miller, who was also working for Berman, as he came out as gay. He recalls that one time she picked him up from a bar when he was too drunk to drive home. "She has a hard shell but she is very kind," he said.

Berman expected that Longwell would some day succeed him, but then Trump won the 2016 presidential election. "I just was sure that it was an accident of history," she said.

Longwell and the writer Bill Kristol, who held positions in Republican administrations and founded neoconservative magazine the Weekly Standard, started running focus groups, trying to find a candidate to challenge Trump in 2024.

What she realized, however, was that voters loved him.

Longwell felt there should be some place on the internet for people like her, those who wanted to push the Republican party in a different direction. Kristol was game to work on it. She began aggregating never-Trumper bloggers, and the first iteration of the Bulwark was born.

"She called me and asked about that idea and I said 'this is really stupid. This isn't going to work,' " Miller said. And at first, "nobody read it."

But in December 2018, the Weekly Standard shut down. Longwell hired four people from the magazine. Then she hired Jonathan Last, who oversaw the Weekly Standard's digital operations.

"I told her I would come help build it, but I'm not going to stay," said Last. He is now the Bulwark's editor.

Over the past few years, Longwell herself has become something of a semi-celebrity. Both she and Miller appear frequently on MS NOW, in addition to the Bulwark's video podcasts. In the past 12 months, the site has hired 22 employees, including its first head of growth -- it currently has a staff of 50 -- and has expanded into new offices.

The publication saw an almost 13% jump in paid subscriptions in the month after the Washington Post announced it would stop endorsing presidential candidates right before the election. From June through the election last year, paid Substack subscribers grew 50%.

After it was announced that Murdoch's Lupa Systems was buying Vox, there have been conversations about opportunities to share resources between the publications, like ad sales for podcasts, said people close to Murdoch.

Longwell has also been working on her first book, scheduled to be published Sept. 8, called "How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time." She can no longer moderate voter focus groups in her free time; she is too easily recognized.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

James and Kathryn Murdoch expressed interest in buying the Bulwark, which Longwell turned down. "The Former GOP Operative Running a News Site for the 'Politically Homeless,'" at 8 P.M. ET June 12 incorrectly said Longwell turned down an offer to sell her company to James and Kathryn Murdoch.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 13, 2026 09:01 ET (13:01 GMT)

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